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Connecticut welfare applicants and recipients were randomly assigned to the Jobs First condition or the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) condition between January 1996 and February 1997. The overall evaluation had a full sample of 4,803 individuals. This review includes impact estimates from three different samples: the full sample of 4,803 individuals; an 18-month survey sample of 471 individuals in the Jobs First group and 493 in the AFDC group, which was selected from those randomly assigned between September 1996 and January 1997; and a 3-year survey sample that included all single parents from the study who had a child between the ages of 2 and 9 and who were randomly assigned between April 1996 and February 1997, plus a random subset of all other sample members (1,524 in the Jobs First group and 1,493 in the AFDC group).
The study period was 1996 through 2001. Evaluators conducted random assignment between January 1996 and February 1997 and then followed sample members for four years.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Ford Foundation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation funded the evaluation.
All study participants were applicants or recipients of cash assistance . On average, participants were about 31 years old at the time of random assignment. More than 60 percent of the people in the sample were Black and not Hispanic or Hispanic, and about 15 percent of people in the sample were married. At the time of random assignment, about 90 percent of study participants had at least one child, and about two-thirds had a GED or high school diploma.
Connecticut Department of Human Services
Between 1993 and 1996, more than 40 states were granted waivers of federal AFDC rules. On January 1, 1996, Connecticut initiated a Jobs First program that imposed a 21-month limit on family welfare grants.
Jobs First was a statewide welfare reform initiative that encouraged individuals to be active and responsible in seeking, obtaining, and retaining employment. It had three main features. First, Jobs First participants could receive a cumulative total of 21 months of cash assistance. Second, in order to encourage and reward work, Connecticut disregarded participants' earned income below the poverty level when calculating cash grants and Food Stamps benefits. Finally, Jobs First participants had to begin looking for a job on their own or through Job Search Skills Training courses, which taught job-search and job-maintenance skills. If participants still could not find a job, Jobs First provided additional education and training services. People who did not meet the participation requirements were subject to sanctions.
Participants randomly assigned into the comparison (AFDC) group were subject to the prior welfare rules that had no time limit on cash assistance receipt.
Participation in employment-related requirements was mandatory, or sanctions would follow.
Twenty-one months, with the possibility of a six-month extension.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The Connecticut Jobs First program was a statewide program, but this study focused on two sites: the city of New Haven and Manchester (a suburban area near Hartford). The program was operated by the New Haven Department of Social Services (DSS) regional office and the Manchester DSS office.
Financial assets, Child well-being, Mortality